Faculty and Staff

Trey Allen is on leave serving as General Counsel for the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts.

Trey Allen joined the School of Government in 2013. He researches and writes about the general regulatory and enforcement powers of local governments, local government liability, and board procedures. He also teaches and advises extensively on those topics. Allen has authored books, book chapters, and articles on issues involving his subject areas, and he contributes to the...

Lydian Altman works with and across various public sector organizations to diagnose, design, develop, and deliver leadership programs and services for public officials through the School’s Center for Public Leadership and Governance. Since she joined the School in 1999, her work has included consulting with elected and appointed leaders to create strategic plans, teaching leadership topics, and facilitating retreats for governmental and nonprofit organizations and cross-sector community...

Andre is a post-doctoral research fellow at UNC's Criminal Justice Innovation Lab, where he focuses on US criminal justice issues (bail reform, policing, over-criminalization, etc.). He is also an affiliated researcher at the Brazilian Association of Jurimetrics (ABJ), where he contributes to policy projects to improve the Brazilian justice system. He is broadly interested in empirical legal studies and natural language processing (NLP) applications in the legal world. In addition to...

Rebecca Badgett joined the School of Government in 2017 and serves as the Local Government Legal Educator for the Law and Finance division. She teaches, researches, and advises on the topic of short-term rental regulation and has contributed blog entries on this topic to the School’s Coates’ Canons site and co-authored the book Regulation and Taxation of Short-Term Rentals with Christopher McLaughlin. Badgett assists local governemnts to ensure compliance with federal grants. She also...

Maggie joined the Criminal Justice Innovation Lab as a graduate research assistant in 2020 before transitioning into her role as project manager in the summer of 2021. Prior to working at the School of Government, Maggie worked in public health and health policy, focusing on strategies to influence the social, environmental, and economic drivers of health at the community and state levels. As a project manager, Maggie supports the Lab’s engaged research projects to promote a more fair and...

Evans Ballard joined the School of Government as Adjunct Instructor for the MPA Program in 2015. He has more than 30 years of combined experience in the private and public sectors, including over 20 years developing and using performance management systems. He is a certified budget and evaluation officer and is Past President of the North Carolina Local Government Budget Association. He has led large organizations, presented to ICMA and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, and served...

Blossom Barrett joined the School of Government in January 2018 as an adjunct professor for the MPA program. For more than 10 years she has worked in the nonprofit arena, primarily in the areas of development, data analysis, and program evaluation. Currently, Blossom is the associate director of data and evaluation for I Know I Can, a nonprofit college access organization in Columbus, Ohio. In her role, she is responsible for data management for three school districts. Additionally, Blossom...

Danielle Bass joined the School of Government as Assistant Dean for Human Resources in April of 2022. She provides leadership and management for all human resources functions and issues within the School. Before this role, she served as the Assistant Director for Human Resources at Kenan-Flagler Business School. She managed staff development, employee relations, class and compensation, and all other aspects of employment for permanent SHRA and EHRA non-faculty employees. Bass is a...

Allison Binkley joined the School of Government in June 2015. She previously served as Career Development Counselor at UNC Wilmington and is a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC). She earned her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from North Carolina State University and she holds a Master of Education in Counselor Education from ...

Julie Brenman joined the School of Government as adjunct faculty in 2008. She has over 15 years of municipal executive experience and currently works as a management consultant to governments and nonprofits. Previously, she served as director of strategic initiatives, assistant city manager, and director of budget and management services for the City of Durham. Before moving to North Carolina, Julie worked for the city and county of San Francisco, CA, as director of planning and budget,...

Anita R. Brown-Graham rejoined the School of Government in September 2016 to lead the public launch of ncIMPACT—a special initiative that seeks to expand the School’s capacity to work with public officials on complex policy issues. Since her arrival, she and her colleagues have devised programs to support communities working on economic mobility, poverty, the expansion of prekindergarten, extending the labor pool, and ...

Audrea Caesar is the inaugural chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer (CDEIO) for the UNC Healthcare system and the UNC School of Medicine. She is working to embed equity into the culture, policies, and practices to achieve a more inclusive organization while decreasing disparities in health. Audrea is a certified health education specialist (CHES) and a senior certified human resources professional (SHRM-SCP) who specializes in Leadership, Organizational Behavior, Diversity,...

Peg Carlson is director of the School of Government’s Center for Public Leadership and Governance, an initiative designed to integrate, coordinate, and expand the School’s leadership, governance, and management programs and scholarship. Carlson rejoined the School of Government in September 2015, after serving on the faculty from 1992–2000. Prior to her return to the School, she was an executive consultant with Roger Schwarz & Associates and worked with a wide variety of public, private...

Christopher A. Cody is a senior researcher at American Institutes for Research, where he works on the Education Statistics Services Institute Network project as director of the postsecondary administrative data division task. As director of the postsecondary administrative data division project, Cody also serves as a survey director for the integrated postsecondary education data system at the National Center for Education Statistics, where he also serves as a task lead for the longitudinal...